Possible Deal on Health Care Reform
Since the Senate passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), on December 24th, the House and Senate have been trying to work out the differences between the two bills. On January 13th, President Obama and top Congressional Democrats held a marathon negotiating session in an effort to thrash out agreements on health care reform. Those in attendance included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and committee chairmen who have worked on the legislation. As a result, the House and Senate have reached a compromise on the issue of taxing “Cadillac” health plans. Negotiators continue to work out the remaining contentious issues with the legislation.

Democratic leaders hope to reach broad agreement on the health care reform bill by January 15th and send it to the Congressional Budget Office for scoring of the cost of the legislation. While the timing of a final bill is unclear, the President expects to have a final bill signed before the State of the Union in early February.

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The International Myeloma Foundation is currently monitoring health care reform legislation for issues that affect myeloma patients. Want to stay informed about IMF’s advocacy activities? All you need to do is to join the Myeloma Action Network at advocacy.myeloma.org and you will automatically receive e-mail advocacy alerts from the IMF.